


Picking Up The Pieces

by Huntress79



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Awesome Peggy Carter, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Childbirth (Non-Graphic), F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Marriage Proposal, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Pregnancy, Protective Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 03:49:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20185777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress79/pseuds/Huntress79
Summary: Bucky survives the fall from the train and makes his way back to the one person he feels he can trust – Peggy Carter. Can these two carry on with Steve’s legacy, especially when Peggy has a surprise of her own to wrap her mind around?





	Picking Up The Pieces

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Entwinedlove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entwinedlove/gifts).

> Written for [Rare Pairs Exchange](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/RarePairsExchange2019/profile) and [Entwinedlove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entwinedlove/pseuds/Entwinedlove). Enjoy!

*********************

Post-war London was, if anything, a loud city. Not only did constructors start to rebuild houses and shops on every corner, a lot of people were still celebrating the win of the allied forces over Hitler Germany, causing an almost constant noise in the streets.

As Bucky made his way through town, not many people really paid attention to him. Sure, a lot gave him a clap on the shoulder, or handed him a celebratory drink, but beyond that, no one asked where this particular soldier was heading. Nonetheless, he found some people willing to help. And so, not even two weeks after he somehow escaped the Russian prison camp, Sergeant James Barnes found himself in front of a small house in West End.

Before he could muster the courage to knock, an elderly, petite woman opened the door, apparently about to go to the small garden area to his left.

“Can I help you, sir?”

“Uh, yes, ma’am, you could. Does a Peggy Carter live here?”

The woman gave him a once-over, taking in the haunted, almost empty look in his eyes, the dirty, tattered remnants of his uniform, the bloody left sleeve. Yet, Bucky didn’t feel judged in any way. He even could relate to her hesitance. Just because the war was won, life didn’t get any more safer in a heartbeat.

“Depends. You served with her?”

“Yes, ma’am. I did, together with some more guys, who helped me getting here.”

Once again, the woman seemed to contemplate her next steps. After a few moments, she turned on her heel, heading back inside, but not without telling him to ‘stay put’.

Time seemed to slow down for Bucky, and for a few precious heartbeats, he considered “deserting” his current place. But before he could do anything, the door opened again, revealing the woman he was looking forward.

“Sergeant Barnes?” Peggy asked with a frown on her face. “But… but Steve told me you were dead.” She shook herself, as if waking up from a daydream. “Ah, where are my manners? Please come in.”

Once inside, she more or less ushered Bucky into a medium-sized living room while issuing some orders to the other woman.

“James, please sit down,” Peggy told him repeatedly, but Bucky was a bit too self-conscious about the state he was in. “What’s the matter?” She finally asked.

Bucky didn’t give her a verbal answer, only made a gesture to encompass his whole frame. Comprehension flittered over her face, and with a huff, she turned around and grabbed a rather ratty blanket from a pile, which she laid on the small settee near the window.

Just as Bucky sat down, the other woman came back, carrying a small tray with tea and biscuits on it, which she set down on the small table in front of him before leaving the room again. Peggy sat down next to him, pouring a cup for him.

“What happened, James?”

“I... I really don’t know.” He grabbed a biscuit and took a bite. “I mean, I remember the fall, seemingly never-ending. I remember the crash into the snow and rocks, the way they cut into me.” Bucky took a steadying breath. “Some Russian soldiers captured me. I have this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that they did something to me, but I can’t remember any details. All I remember is pain, pain, pain.” Subconsciously, Bucky’s right hand went up to clutch at his left arm, and try as he might, he couldn’t quite contain a groan. Which in turn brought Peggy’s attention to the wounded limb – and which was also the last thing Bucky did before passing out.

*********************

When he came back some hours later, Bucky realized several things at once: (a) he was, most definitely, no longer in Peggy Carter’s living room, but in a hospital; (b) there was something different about his left arm; and (c) someone was in the room with him. Someone who wasn’t Peggy, that much he knew.

Finally opening his eyes, Bucky felt a groan escaping his lips, though he wasn’t sure if it was due to the pain he still felt in most of his body or rather due to the rays of sunshine hitting his face.

“Rise and shine, princess!”

The booming voice of one Timothy “Dum Dum” Dugan brought, despite the circumstances, a smile to Bucky’s face. Of all the soldiers he had served with, the former circus artist was among his few favorites.

“How…?” Bucky asked, his brow furrowing.

“How did I get here so fast, you ask?” Dugan said while sitting down. Bucky nodded, already feeling fatigue creeping back into his body. “I was still here in London, hoping to either get a lift back to the States or finding some temporary work here.”

The door to his room opened, and while Peggy was quite expected, the guy behind her was another surprise – Howard Stark.

“Sergeant? You remember me?”

“Yeah, you’re Howard Stark, one of the guys who gave Steve the serum, right?”

“Yes,” Howard chuckled, “more or less, though compared to Dr. Erskine, I was only a small part.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Howard, without your Vita-Ray machine, the whole project would have fallen flat,” Peggy added with a smile.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Bucky began, garnering their attention again, “I’m flattered to get such important people to visit me, but what brought you here in the first place?”

“You don’t like chit-chat, Sarge?” Dugan threw in, though Bucky could detect a heavy dose of humor in the man’s voice.

“Not really, unless the situation calls for it,” Bucky returned with a light waggle of his eyebrows.

“Straight to the core, Sarge,” Howard began, “a man after my own taste.” But before he could launch into a deeper explanation to his presence, a nurse, followed by a doctor, came into the room.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” the nurse said, giving him a once-over. “Need anything?”

“Maybe something to drink,” Peggy answered, way before Bucky even could think of an answer. The nurse wasn’t even slightly deterred by that, she only nodded at Peggy.

“Of course, ma’am.”

And with that, she was out of the room again, leaving “the stage”, so to speak, to the doctor.

“How are you feeling, Sergeant?”

“A bit odd, and I know that something isn’t right with my left arm,” Bucky answered. He thought for a second before continuing, this time leveling a gaze at the other people in the room. “I guess at least one of them knows more about it, but we didn’t get around to talk about it, yet.”

“That’s not so bad, son,” the doctor said before sitting down. “You know your body quite good, I must admit, especially for a soldier.” Bucky only raised an eyebrow. “Unfortunately, I had my fair share in the past few years, and some of them flat out denied that something was wrong with their body after waking up from a surgery.”

“Surgery?” Bucky echoed.

“Yes, unfortunately we had no other option as to operate on you, son. And also unfortunately, we had no chance to save your left arm. I’m sorry, but we had to amputate.”

Bucky felt like being punched in the gut. How on Earth should he live now, with a missing limb? He couldn’t insert himself in Becca’s life, and his mom, while she was a strong-willed woman, wouldn’t be up to the task.

“And that’s why I’m here, Sarge,” Howard suddenly said, jolting Bucky out of his current train of thought.

“No offense, Stark, but how can you help me if the doctors couldn’t?”

“None taken, Barnes. I’ll explain once the doctor has finished.”

For the next few minutes, the doctor tried to explain the surgery and what other injuries Bucky had suffered in both the fall and his escape across the continent. But try as he might, Bucky was too wrapped up in the fact that he had lost a limb to even try to follow.

Sensing that, the doctor instructed everyone in the room to call for a nurse should the patient need anything at all. Before heading out, he left a note for the nurse to increase the dose for Bucky’s pain meds slightly.

Once again, the quartet was on its own, and once again, the room was shrouded in silence, which lasted for some time before Bucky found his voice.

“You said you have an idea, Stark?”

“Yes, even two. First, I have access to some good metals to make you a prosthetic.” He pulled out a small notebook (as Bucky noticed, not dissimilar to the one Steve once used to carry around), flipped it open and turned it over to Bucky, displaying the quite detailed sketch of a sleek-looking arm.

“Wow,” was all Bucky got out. Apparently, the rumors about Howard Stark being a genius were true.

“Yeah, I apologize for the color, but maybe we can work on that once we have an actual limb,” Howard continued with almost a sheepish look on his face.

“What’s idea No. 2?” Peggy asked.

“Let’s just say that the Nazi spy didn’t get all of the serum, as you all assumed.”

Bucky and Dugan exchanged a look. What the heck were they talking about? But before any of them could say anything, Howard continued.

“Barnes, I’m gonna have a long talk to the doctors here, and as soon as they say it’s okay, I’m gonna fly you over to the States,” he looked over to Dugan, “you as well, sir, and Peggy, you can come along, too. In the meantime, I’m gonna tinker on that arm of yours.”

And with that, Stark was out of the room, intent on finding any of Bucky’s doctors.

*********************

Several weeks later, Bucky was well enough to not only be transferred out of the hospital, but also to tackle the flight back to the States, courtesy of Stark. True to his word, the genius inventor had developed a prototype for Bucky’s prosthetic, but the doctors didn’t allow him to make some preliminary fittings. Bucky was okay with that. He still could “feel” the missing limb from time to time, and while he had agreed, somehow, to Stark’s plans for a prosthetic, he also was downright frightened by the sheer thought of having a metal arm. How could one live with something so inhuman like that? How would his family react, not only to him being alive, but also to him missing an arm, and later, to him having a metal one instead? Would he ever be able to settle down with a girl nice enough to ignore an obstacle like that?

“You’re thinkin’ too much, Sarge.”

The deep baritone of Tim Dugan cut through Bucky’s never-stopping train of thought, and while it didn’t really stop, it at least slowed down.

“Well, there’s not really anything to do for me,” Bucky gave back, sarcasm heavy in his tired voice.

“That’s right, if you cut it down to manual labor alone,” Dugan countered, sitting down on the corner of Bucky’s bed (which was in Peggy Carter’s guest room, or so he was told). “But there’s other work to do, my friend,” Dugan tapped the side of his head, indicating the brain, “and you’re not the only one in this house who has lost so much in this war.”

“What the heck are you talking about, Dum-Dum?”

Maybe it was the pain medication, or the constant down feeling, or maybe a combo of everything that had happened to him since saying goodbye to Steve at the Stark Fair, but try as he might, Bucky couldn’t quite catch the drift of Dugan’s words.

“I’m talking about Carter, Sarge. From what I have gathered, she and the Cap were really in love, and I also think that she was the only thing that kept him going after your fall.” Dugan stopped, looking down and taking a deep breath. “And I know I shouldn’t talk about a woman in that way, but the night before we tackled Schmidt’s headquarter, I saw her vanishing in Cap’s quarters.” He leaned closer, a soft smile spreading on his face. “Don’t think that they only talked strategies and plans all night.”

Before Bucky could even comprehend, Dugan was out of the room, whistling a tune. When Bucky finally realized what Dugan was implying, he wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry. Of course, his punk finally got lucky with a gal the night before he died. Luck of the Irish, indeed.

*********************

The next morning came, and Bucky was just about to head down to the kitchen when Peggy came running up the stairs. She didn’t even acknowledged him but ran past him to the bathroom. Only heartbeats later, Bucky could hear the faint sounds of her retching, and once again, he cursed every God he could think of. What on Earth had Steve done in a past life to deserve this? Not only he had to beat the odds with a strange experiment, now it seemed that he most likely had fathered a child that never, ever would meet him.

At long last, Peggy came back out of the room, and only now did she notice Bucky standing in the doorway to his temporary quarters.

“Good morning, James. Do you need anything?”

“Yes, Peggy, I do.” She gave him a quizzical look. “Please, for Steve’s sake, take it easy.”

“You know I can’t, not now. We have to organize me moving to the States, we have to make sure that you…”

“Stop, Peggy, stop and listen.” He left the doorway and went back inside his room, leaving her no other chance as to follow him. “But first, sit down.” Bucky motioned to the bed, and Peggy, surprisingly, followed the order.

“Alright, I’m listening, Sarge.”

“I heard you in the other room, just now. You can tell me it’s because you ate something wrong, but we both know it would be a blatant lie.” He sat down next to her and in quite a bold move, grabbed her chin and turned her head so that she couldn’t help but look into his eyes. “Dum-Dum also told me that he saw you going into Steve’s quarter the night before the attack on Schmidt’s headquarter.” Bucky looked down at her still flat stomach, then back up into her eyes. “You’re with Steve’s child, and if nothing else, we have to protect this child from any military agency on this planet.”

“What? Why?”

“Think about it. Steve tried to explain the whole Project Rebirth to me after he got us out, but I didn’t get everything. But if they were willing to kill the mastermind behind it all, or get him killed, don’t you think that everyone is gonna prey on this little one,” he motioned towards her stomach, “just to get a sample of its blood, just because he or she’s half of Steve?”

At long last, Bucky got up from the bed, giving Peggy literally space to think about it. He also knew that he took quite a plunge with his words. But it also was, as a little voice piping up in his head reassured him, the brutal truth.

Back in the facility, he had heard Zola and some other man talking about it – that the US had managed to create some kind of super soldier, apparently with the help of someone they both knew. The other man was livid about it, stated that it should have been him who got it, but Zola threw in that they should attempt to catch this man, and at the very least, get enough of his blood to recreate whatever made this guy so special. Bucky didn’t understand everything, but for the first time in his life he was thankful that Brooklyn was such a potluck of languages, and that his family happened to live next door to a family from Germany. That way, Bucky learnt enough of their language to understand Zola – without letting him on, of course.

He more felt than heard Peggy getting up from the bed, and a heartbeat later, her hand was on his shoulder, bringing him back from the brink of the bad memories.

“So, James, assuming you’re right about me being with child, what do you suggest we should do to keep it safe?”

There was no accusatory undercurrent in her words, which Bucky noticed with some relief. Gathering his thoughts, he gave her his most assuring smile.

“How about that? First thing, we get back to the States.” He saw her opening her mouth, so he quickly continued. “I’d like to see my family once more, before everything might get too crazy and too dangerous.” Peggy nodded, content with his reasoning. “I bet Stark and the rest of the Howlies can help too, and while I still have some trust left in the US Army…”

Unnoticed by him, Peggy gently steered Bucky back to the bed. She could literally feel him getting more and more agitated, and if she was honest for a moment, she felt the same – for everything he already had said this morning. She had the suspicion herself that she probably was with child, and since there was no other man next to Steve, it only could be his. And sure, she loved the UK, but the military leaders were now, so shortly after the war, desperate to prove the world they were good at their jobs. And what would help them more than presenting the world the offspring of a true and tried war hero, even if he was from the US?

“Peggy?” Bucky’s voice was just shy above a whisper, and if they weren’t already sitting close to each other, she would have had to strain her ears to even hear it here, in this otherwise silent room. She opened her eyes (when on Earth had she even closed them in the first place??), and when she looked over to him, his steel blue eyes were filled with worry.

“Everything’s okay, James, or as far as it should be. I just was tangled in my own mind,” she finally said, and while he gave her a small smile, the words felt fake, even to herself.

“I know, it’s a lot to consider. And I’m actually sorry that first Steve and now me get you into so much trouble.”

“Hate to tell you that, but it takes two to do this kind of tango,” Peggy quipped back, and for the first time this morning, they both could see the smile reaching the other’s eyes. She leaned in, as if the next thing she was about to say was a big secret. “And believe me, I was a very willing dancing partner.”

*********************

A few more weeks passed, and while Bucky finally got some strength back in the stump of his left arm, Peggy’s morning sickness faded to a degree where she could keep most of her breakfasts down. She didn’t tell her mother about the possibility of a pregnancy, at least not yet. On one of their long walks around the neighborhood, Bucky and her had hashed a basic plan on how to proceed. They would return to the States, would start at the SSR (according to Stark, Philips was delighted at not only having Peggy, but also Barnes on the first team), and somewhere down the road, Peggy would announce that she was pregnant and that James was the father, that they somehow had fallen in love.

That at least was the plan. But like with every other plan, there was quite a difference between the theory and its realization. And Peggy knew that one of these “obstacles” was Bucky’s family. Surely, Mr. and Mrs. Barnes had a different idea of a perfect girl for their only son, and of course they never, ever could know that the baby wasn’t his. Hopefully, they both were good enough actors to pull it all off.

If she was honest, Peggy was more than surprised. Not only by James being alive, but also by his absolute and unwavering detemination to protect the child of his best friend and to care for it. They hadn’t spoken about it yet, but Peggy was sure that he already was practicing a proposal speech in his mind.

Another thing that took her quite by surprise was his cleverness. Sure, Steve had told her a thing or two about Bucky that night at the destroyed “Whip & Fiddle”, but he never mentioned that his best friend was a genius in his own right, with a high preference for all kinds of technical development. Maybe Steve simply had forgotten about it in his grief, maybe he thought it wasn’t worth mentioning, now that the man in question was dead, or maybe he was just used to it, due to their almost life-long friendship. Finishing packing up her undergarments in yet another box with a smile, Peggy could all but see Howard and Bucky hunched over a table, discussing one of Howard’s designs, or maybe even one of Bucky’s.

The next morning, Howard showed up rather early at their house, and he didn’t bat an eye when Bucky gently retrieved the coffee cup from Peggy’s hand, much to her annoyance. Instead, he handed her a tea cup and steered her towards the kitchen table, away from her usual place against the counter.

“If I wouldn’t know better, Barnes, I would say you treat Carter like a precious porcelain doll…,” Howard began, only to be interrupted by Peggy.

“…which I’m definitely not, despite what other people think,” she gave Bucky a challenging look, but he just shrugged.

“I definitely won’t apologize for loving to take care of the people I hold close to my heart,” Bucky finally retorted, and somehow, rendered both Peggy and Howard speechless for some moments.

That was how Dugan and Falsworth found them, and while they both couldn’t quite pinpoint what was going on, they definitely knew now that something was going on.

After saying goodbye to her mother, and some of the neighbors, Peggy, Bucky and the rest of the gang boarded the private plane of Howard Stark. Their destination: Washington DC, or better the military airport outside the city limits.

Both Peggy and Bucky slept for the better part of the flight, catching up on the sleep they missed the night before, mostly due to them both being a bundle of nerves. Dugan and Jones woke them gently up once Stark announced that they were about to land.

It turned out when they opened the passenger door that Phillips himself was welcoming them on US soil. Peggy felt her eyes prick with tears when the stoic general swept a visibly surprised Bucky in a hug, carefully enough as not to aggravate the remains of his left arm.

While Bucky worked on getting his breathing back under control, Phillips proceeded to greet the rest of them, starting with Peggy.

“Agent Carter, I’m happy to see you in better spirits than the last time we met.”

“Yeah, it’s a tough road, I won’t lie, General, but I have to keep moving on. And I hope that the new job will provide me with plenty of adventures.”

“About that…,” Phillips began, only to be interrupted by Private Lorraine, who told him that he had an urgent call to take care of, immediately. He apologized to Peggy and the others before following the blonde into the main building of the airport.

“Howard?” Peggy started.

“Yes, Carter?”

“Not to be pushy, but where should we stay, at least tonight?”

Instead of an verbal answer, the inventor only pointed towards the road, where they could see a car approaching. Recognizing the car as it came to a stop next to the plane, Bucky couldn’t help but grin.

“Is that the same car that you showed at the Stark Fair in 43?”

“Exactly the same - -well, without the not-working parts,” Howard gave back, his voice heavily laced with pride.

In the meantime, a tall, lanky man stepped out of the car and over to Howard.

“Welcome back, Sir.” Howard gave a quick nod, then the man turned around to face the others. “Ma’am, Gentlemen, I’m Edwin Jarvis, Mr. Stark’s personal butler. As per Sir’s order, you all are invited to stay the night at the mansion.” Right that moment, a second, slightly larger car pulled up to them, and to Bucky’s surprise, the man getting out of the driver’s side had a very visible limp in his left leg.

“May I introduce you to my nephew Daniel?” Jarvis spoke up, and the man in question gave the group a rather adorably yet slightly awkward wave. “I suggest we split the group into both cars.”

“What about our stuff, Howard?” Bucky asked, his voice carrying a slightly alarmed undertone.

“Don’t worry, Barnes, nothing will happen to it!” Stark came back to stand right in front of Peggy and Bucky. “As a matter of fact, I already have acquired a house for you near the new SSR headquarters. And tomorrow, we will transfer all your belongings into the house, but until then, this baby,” he touched the side of the plane, “will be locked up tight.”

*********************

Almost two months later found both Bucky and Peggy well inserted into the SSR. Sure, Peggy was still a bit pissed about the fact that just because she was a woman, the government apparently only considered her good enough to be the SSR variation of a secretary. But other than that, she was happy that she still could work.

Bucky on the other hand usually had two very different halves of a day. While he spent most of his mornings at the office, catching up on “Agent speak”, as both Peggy and Daniel labeled it, to become a field agent, most of his afternoons were split between Howard’s private lab and Dugan’s new workplace. As it turned out, the man not only had a big heart, he also had a knack for any kind of physical therapy. And so, with a little help from both Stark and Phillips, he set up shop near the base, helping not only Bucky, but every other soldier who had suffered in the war with exercises they could work into their daily routine.

At long last, Bucky had enough strength in what was left of his arm to do a first fitting of the prosthetic. Without him asking, Peggy agreed to accompany him, providing with extra mental strength.

It was both the best and the worst moment of his life so far. Worst, cause the pain just wouldn’t stop, not even with a dose of pain medication injected right into the stump. The arm felt way too heavy, and even while lying on the table, Bucky could feel the gravitational pull, putting weight on muscles already unused to carry so much in one go.

But also was the best day, cause Peggy was there all the time, even when he was yelling in pain, holding his right hand tight in hers. It also was a one-of-a-kind experience to finally have an arm again, and despite the constant throbbing in his shoulder, where metal, skin and bones met, Bucky felt hope blossoming. Hope that not too far in the future he might be able to hold their child properly in his arms.

*********************

Only a few weeks later, a slight bump could be seen on Peggy, and they wasted no time at all to announce the pregnancy once it was confirmed by Stark’s personal doctor. Most of their colleagues congratulated them, even Phillips, while a few had no qualms to talk open about not believing that her and Bucky were actually a couple. Peggy, of course, told Bucky about it, and when he picked her up that evening, the scorching kiss she received in front of pretty much everyone silenced even the last doubting Thomas (and made her knees very, very weak!)

In hindsight, that kiss was kind of an initial impulse for a “real” relationship. From that moment on, Bucky became bolder in being physical with her, grabbing Peggy at any given moment and holding her flush to him while peppering her face and neck with kisses. And Peggy wasn’t faring any better. Whenever she had the chance to catch Bucky in his underwear (or less), she feasted her eyes on his body. Sans the missing arm, his body was a true work of art – abs so ripped that they probably would give her mother’s washing board a run for its money, broad shoulders (in Peggy’s opinion the perfect size for usage as a pillow substitute), narrow hips, long, strong legs, and a pair of blue eyes in a color she hadn’t seen before.

The weekend following their announcement, Bucky finally gathered the bravado to introduce Peggy to his family. Fortunately, Daniel offered to drive them to Brooklyn, since he already had planned on visiting friends in the area.

Winifred Barnes was, for the lack of a better word, a gentle force. She was delighted, not only to see her only son well and alive, but also with having a “nice gal to settle down”. Becca was quite the same, and Peggy could see the deep bond between the siblings. They both had agreed from the beginning that they wouldn’t tell them about the true parentage of “their” child, but Peggy would try to sway Bucky to include Becca in the “need-to-know” circle.

George Barnes on the other hand wasn’t even trying to cover his disdain. Bucky was apparently a disgrace for the family for losing the arm, and after the second attempt, Bucky simply gave up to try and explain it to him.

Peggy was scrutinized by him from the moment they stepped over the threshold, and she was holding her breath if he would notice the little bump under her jacket. And of course, he did.

“Say, James,” Peggy had to suppress a shudder upon hearing so much venom in one word, “you didn’t say that you knocked her,” George gestured at Peggy with his Whiskey tumbler, “up?”

“We were,…” Peggy began, only to be stopped by a glare coming from the Barnes patriarch.

“I was talking to my son, Brit,” once again, there was so much venom in that one word, and under her hand, Peggy felt Bucky starting to shake.

“And your son is answering, Dad,” Bucky finally grounded out, his blue eyes turning dark and hard. “Yes, I ‘knocked her up’, but we wanted to wait until after lunch to tell you all about.” With that, Bucky got up from the table, whispered an apology to Peggy, Becca and his mother, and was out of the room.

“He never will change,” George sneered, “always running away when things got tough.”

“Gee,” Winifred spoke up, “I wonder whom of us he got that from?”

“Wo…,” George began, only to be stopped by Becca.

“Dad, you’re drunk, and I suggest you go upstairs and sleep it off.” The hard, cold look she gave her father left no room for arguments.

To Peggy’s surprise, George finally put the tumbler down, gave Becca an equally hard look (which she withstood), and at last, left the room. Only when they heard the bedroom door close audibly, all three women released the breath they were holding.

“Peggy, I am so sorry that you had to witness that all,” Winifred began.

“Oh, don’t be, Mrs. Barnes. I also had my fair share of family drama back home, especially after my brother Michael was killed in action and I expressed the wish to follow in his footsteps and become a soldier as well.”

“Still, his behavior was absolutely out of line, and for that, I apologize.”

“Me too,” Becca added. “Oh, and I think you should look after Jimmy. He might try to be strong and pull through, but I know that he’s hurting, especially when Dad is not only insulting him, but also his friends.”

“Any idea where I might find him?”

Becca’s only answer was a cheeky grin.

*********************

For the rest of her pregnancy, Bucky and Peggy only stayed in contact to Becca, who was starting her training to be a pediatric nurse in Washington in mid-August.

Thankfully, Peggy’s pregnancy was an uneventful one, and with every day passing by, both her and Bucky got more excited to finally meeting the last link to a man they both had come to love.

Bucky made quite some progress with the prosthetic, much to Howard’s delight. By the time the baby was almost ready to be born, he already could lift light things, like a diaper, a baby bottle, and such.

When at long last the birth began, the baby already lived up to the legacy of its father. It was, at least according to Peggy’s doctor, one of the quickest births he ever had experienced. Within not only five hours, their little bundle of joy was brought into the world, filling the delivery room with a surprisingly melodic voice.

As it turned out, they were blessed with a little girl with the bluest eyes they ever had seen. Bucky finally tore himself away from Peggy’s side, but not without pressing a kiss to her head and whispering “I love you, so very much,” before taking the baby from the nurse and walking out to where he was met with not only the five Howlies, but also Howard, Edwin, Ana, Daniel, and to his surprise, Becca, Winifred and George Barnes.

“Let me see! Let me see!” Becca exclaimed, making a beeline for the precious bundle in her brother’s arms.

“Easy, girl, you’re gonna wake her up,” Buck scolded, only to hand the little miracle over to her a moment later.

“Her?” Dugan echoed, the smile on his face already threatening to split it in half. “So gentlemen,” he let his gaze sweep over the rest of the Howlies, “first of all, pay up. And second, we’re gonna have to make sure that this little princess is chaperoned well into her teens.”

“Shouldn’t that be my job, Dugan?” Bucky quipped good-natured.

“Sure it is, Sarge, but you can never have enough chaperones to step in, especially when she’s going to have at least half of the look of you and Carter.”

“Nah, she better has Peggy’s looks alone.”

“Do you have a name for her, son?” Winifred asked.

“Yes, we made the decision some weeks ago. We also had a name for a boy, just in case.” Bucky took the baby back from Dernier. “Folks, meet Sarah Grace Barnes.”

“Oh my, what a beautiful name!” Winifred exclaimed, while Bucky heard both Jones and Dugan gasp. Apparently, they both knew what the names were standing for. Sarah for Steve’s mother, and Grace for Peggy’s little sister, who never made it past the first 24 hours after the birth.

After some more moments of passing the baby around (who slept through it all like a real champ), the nurse dispersed the gathering by ushering Bucky back into the delivery room, and the rest back to the small family room.

Handing their “little princess”, as Dugan had dubbed her, over to the nurse, Bucky proceeded further to Peggy’s side once again.

“Hey there.”

“Hey back.”

“How are you feeling, doll?”

“Exhausted and like I hadn’t had a proper bath in a week or so, but other than that, so incredibly happy that she’s finally here, healthy.” Peggy swallowed, apparently her emotions were still all over the place. “Thank you for being here, James, I don’t know if I would have made without your unwavering support.”

“Pegs, there’s no place I’d rather be right now.” To her big surprise, Bucky suddenly went down on one knee, holding up a most beautiful ring. “I know, we had the most unconventional start into our relationship, but by now, I can’t imagine a day not waking up next to you, not an evening falling asleep in your arms, and with that little miracle now being here, I think it’s time to make it officially in every possible way.” He paused, taking a steadying breath. “Margareth Elizabeth Carter, will you do me the honor and become my wife?”

“Yes, Sarge, I will!”

*********************

**The End**

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End file.
